GOP lines up talking points

House Republicans have already lined up their talking points ahead of President Obama’s Thursday evening jobs speech, and they seem to echo the new Republican theme of finding “common ground” with the president on the economy.

“We welcome the president’s participation in this dialogue and any and all ideas that will help create jobs by removing government barriers to job creation and promoting long term economic growth,” an outline obtained by POLITICO says. “And we were pleased to hear the Obama administration express a desire to find areas of common ground that can be implemented in divided government.”

Story Continued Below

Republicans do not plan an official response to Obama’s speech on Thursday night, but the outline gives a glimpse of what could be expected from individual Republicans — if they choose to stick to their leaders talking points. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have been pushing the GOP to have a less partisan response to Obama in recent days.

The outline leads by underscoring House Republicans’ time in their home districts talking to constituents during the summer recess. And it touts their jobs plan, saying most House-passed measures have been “ignored” or “attacked” in the Senate and by the administration.

Amid expectations that the president will present a roughly $300 billion proposal on Thursday, the Republicans say their concerns about $800 billion in past stimulus spending are now “validated” by the nation’s unemployment rate and the deficit level.

The four-page outline then turns to regulations, some of which, Republicans say, are costly and harmful to job growth.

Republicans are also calling for cost estimates for other regulations, saying they hope Obama will disclose that information “prior to the president’s address to a Joint Session of Congress.”

The outline suggests infrastructure initiatives in the president’s jobs plan could be a point of agreement with House Republicans, but calls for eliminating the requirement that states reserve 10 percent of surface transportation funds for “transportation enhancements.”

They also call for faster construction permitting, a Georgia-based model for unemployment programs, and progress on several pending trade agreements, according to the outline.

And it concludes by discussing the temporary payroll tax break, saying workers need more “long term certainty” and urging reform that makes the tax code “fairer, flatter, and simpler.”